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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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http://www.archive.org/details/howtohatchbroodf01john 




Mrs. Rebecca Johnson 



HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED 



AND 



PREVENT CHICKS 



FROM 



DYING IN 155 SHELL 



BY 

MRS. REBECCA JOHNSON 

Maxweu, Iowa 



The L. R. Shepherd Publishing Co. 

Maxwell, Iowa 

1905 



lUBRASY uf GONGR£SS 
I (wo Copies rteceivaU 

j MAY IB 1^05 
/// £<?£ 

COPY 3. 



Copyrighted 1905 

BY 

Mrs. Rebecca Johnson 






3 fob 




INTRODUCTORY 

F|0 THE READER: I will tell you how I came to write this 
book. About twenty-two years ago I became dissatisfied 
with the slow way of raising chickens with hens. I had read 
that chicks could be hatched by artifical incubation, but I 
had never seen an incubator, and knew nothing of the natu- 
ral laws of incubation, but if a person wants to learn they must investigate, 
so I went to work. I placed a thermometer under a sitting hen every day 
for three weeks and found first the temperature at which she kept her eggs 
each day during the whole hatch. The hen from which I was taking les- 
sons I set on the porch near the window, where I was doing my spring sew- 
ing. I watched her closely that I might know how many times she turned 
her eggs during the day. She turned them about every four hours. I did 
the same for a while, but soon found it was not necessary. After I had 
found the proper temperature at which to keep the eggs during incubation, 
and also how often to turn them, I commenced the construction of an 
incubator. I used two dry goods boxes, one of which had served me as a 
wood box for several years. One box was a little larger than the other. I 
placed the smaller one inside of the larger, and filled the space with saw- 
dust. I thought it would have to be thick so it would retain the heat. 
That was not a bad idea either. I made a hot air space at the top and 
bottom. I thought the eggs should have heat from above and below. 
Then I put pipes through it and heated it with lamps just about the same 
as the modern hot air machines are heated today. It was a rude concern 
but it hatched chicks just the same. After the thermometer registered 
102 degrees, I placed the eggs in my new machine and kept the temperature 
the same each day for three weeks, just as the hen did, with the result that 
I hatched 108 chicks from 116 eggs. I did not test any out. I did not 
know enough about such affairs at that time. I had six ventilators in the 
top and six in the bottom. After awhile I saw where I could make an 
improvement in my machine. I went to work and made a new one, and 
then another, and so on until I had made nine. Each machine was an 
improvement over the other. I made my own brooder also. Here is where 
goods boxes played an important part again. I put sheet iron in for a floor 
and placed a lamp under it to keep the chicks warm. Now with my home- 
made incubators and brooders I have raised as many as twenty-six hundred 
chicks in one year, and seldom less that fifteen hundred. 

Well, my success got into the papers. Sometimes good things were 
printed as well as bad things. Then I began to receive letters of inquiry 



4 INTRODUCTORY 

in regard to operating an incubator, how and what to feed brooder chicks, 
and every thing pertaining to poultry culture. The first few years I did 
not receive so many letters, but as the use of incubators became more 
prevalent, there were more inquiries. I tried to answer every one, for how 
glad I would have been twenty- two years ago to have received a letter from 
some one who had had twenty-two years of practical experience, and how 
it would have helped me through many trying difficulties and saved me 
many disappointments. At last I received so many letters that it was im- 
possible to answer them all and do my work as it should be done. One day 
a friend said to me, "Why not write a book on incubation and raising 
brooder chicks, telling every thing in detail, just as you know it from experi- 
ence, it would be so helpful to new beginners?" this was the first time I had 
ever thought of the matter in that light. I wrote to several in answer to 
inquiries that I would write a book if I thought 1 could sell enough copies 
to justify me. Mr. Payne, editor of the Nevada Representative, published 
one of those letters. Then I began to receive orders four months before I 
had commenced to write, so I thought I would put my experience to good 
account. Hence this book. Hoping that this little volume will prove of 
pleasure and profit to the reader, I remain 

Most sincerely yours, 

The Author. 



How to Hatch, Brood, Feed and Pre- 
vent Chicks From Dying in the Shell 



Saving Eggs for Incubation 

r HILE you are saving eggs to fill the incubator, keep them in a mod- 
erately cool place, not lower than sixty degrees temperature. They 
should not be kept in a room where there is a fire, unless the 
weather is quite cool, until about eight or ten hours before you place them 
in the incubator. Then they should be brought into a room that has a fire 
in it, for eggs when kept in a cool place will sweat when they come in con- 
tact with the heat, and it is better for them to go through that sweating 
process out of the incubator than in it, for it takes so much longer to get 
the eggs to the proper heat for incubation if they are allowed to sweat in 
the machine. Do not keep them in a cellar or cave if they are the least bit 
damp. I find that a bed room is about the best place to keep them in. 
Turn your eggs once a day after the third day. Be sure that your hands 
are free from grease while handling them. Put a clean cloth or paper in 
the basket or box before placing the eggs in it. You cannot be too careful 
in this respect, for sometime the least speck of grease will kill the germ of 
the egg. It is best not to keep your eggs in an egg case while saving to 
set. Eggs should not be kept longer than two weeks, although I have 
kept them three weeks, but the best results are obtained from eggs not 
over a week or ten days old. When this is done a larger per cent will hatch 
and there will not be so many crippled chicks if you set fresh laid eggs. 
You will get more pullets from medium sized eggs than you will from very 
large ones. The very large pointed eggs, if they hatch at all, are most 
invariably males. You, perhaps, have noticed this. Leghorn eggs hatch 
better than the larger breeds, such as Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Buff 
Cochin, Brahma. Leghorn eggs have a very thin shell, consequently it is 
easier to pip. Do not save eggs from inbred fowls to set, if you can pos- 
sibly help it. You must procure eggs from well-bred, healthy fowls to 
make success sure. Better pay a few cents more per dozen and start right. 
Chicks hatched from eggs of inbred fowls are more liable to disease than 
those hatched from pure-bred fowls. I have seen good results from mon- 



6 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

grel hens and good blooded cockerels. But if you are going into the busi- 
ness for profit get a good incubator and a good brooder then buy or ex- 
change eggs with some one that has good blooded fowls, and start right. 
It will cost a little more at first, but will pay you big dividends in the end. 
If you have eggs shipped to you or if you carry them in a buggy any dis- 
tance, they should rest at least ten hours before placing them in the incu- 
bator. If you have good blooded fowls you can sell your eggs and cockerels 
at a good price, too, just as well as your neighbor. Not only this, but you 
will get better returns for your labor, for it costs just as much to raise poor 
fowls as it does good ones; yes, more, for pure breeds are stronger and 
more likely to live. 



1 



Testing the Eggs to Set 

ALWAYS test the eggs before I place them in the machine, especially 
if I buy them. One then has a chance to fill their machine full of good 
eggs. Some eggs have very thin, spotted shells. The shell will look 
very thin in some places and thick in others. These you should not set. 
Others that look as though they had been set on awhile should be discard- 
ed also. The room where you are testing the eggs should be dark. At 
night is the proper time to test, but if you want to test in the day time, 
darken the windows with something heavy so as not to admit any light 
whatever in the room. I test my eggs for fertility on the evening of the 
seventh day. Do not test in a very cold room. If you think they will get too 
cold before you finish testing, carry them to a warmer room to do the work. 
Take out one tray at a time and close the machine, turn the lamp up a lit- 
tle so the egg chamber will be quite warm, then you return the eggs, and 
it will not take them so long to get back to their proper temperature. 

Do not cool or turn the eggs the evening you test them. You can turn 
each egg as you place them back in the tray after you have tested them, 
and they will get cool enough in the operation of testing. As soon as you 
finish testing the first tray return it to the machine at once, then test the 
other one. Very dark brown eggs are harder to test than light colored 
ones, consequently I test them again on the thirteenth day. Then you can 
remove all that is not fertile. You can keep a more even temperature if 
all the unfertile eggs are removed. Do not hold the eggs too close to the 
lamp while testing them, as you will injure them. You will find eggs 
which you are doubtful about. Those you should mark and in a few days 
examine them again. If you smell a foul odor in your machine hunt till 
you find it. The quicker they are removed the better, for a spoiled egg 
may injure the hatch. Some Incubator Companys will tell you to test 
your eggs three times. This is unnecessary. Twice is sufficient. When 
I have a great deal to do I some times get mine tested but once, but it is 
better to test twice. 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL I 

Never add eggs at different times. Put them all in at once. If you 
haven't enough to fill your machine wait a few days, for it will take more 
oil to hatch a few than an incubator full. The more eggs you have in the 
machine, the more animal heat you will have, consequently it will take less 
oil. The more fertile eggs you have in your incubator the easier to keep 
the desired temperature. 

How to Start Your Incubators 

SET up your incubators according to the directions you receive with it. 
Place incubator in a bedroom or dry cellar; it should not be in a 
room where there is a fire unless the fire is kept up all the time. It 
should be in a room or cellar where the thermometer will not register lower 
than fifty degrees, and where the temperature can be kept as even as pos- 
sible. Never try to operate an incubator in an out-building in freezing 
weather. It would be all right in summer if there were no draft and it 
could be well ventilated and kept dry, but the better the room is adapted 
to this purpose the less attention the incubator demands, and the better 
the results will be. 

If your machine is a hot water one it must sit perfectly level in order 
to get the proper circulation through the heating pipes. It should not be 
set by guess, but you should use a spirit level. Now put on your regulator 
according *o directions. Pill your boiler or pipes with boiling water. It 
would take too long to heat up the egg chambers if cold water was used. 
Light the lamp and run the machine until you have perfect control of the 
regulator, so that the thermometer will stand at 102 degrees for several 
hours before placing the eggs in the incubator. If your machine is a hot 
air machine it doesn't matter so much about its being level, but other con- 
ditions must be the same as a hot water machine. A hot air machine 
needs more attention than a hot water one because it heats up quicker and 
cools off quicker. You should use the best oil you can procure If you 
get cheap oil your wicks gum up and the burners will clog up and oftimes 
an explosion will be the result. I have lost my entire hatch several times 
by using poor oil. The lamps would blaze up and my eggs would get too 
hot before I knew it and the chicks would all be dead in the shell. 



Proper Temperature for Successful Incubation 

YOUR thermometer should register 102 degrees for several hours before 
you place yours eggs in the incubator. See that your regulator 
works perfectly according to the directions that come with your ma- 
chine. I cannot tell you just how it should be for there are so many differ- 



8 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD. FEED AND PREVENT 

ent kinds, but each machine has instructions which you should go by to 
the letter in sitting up your machine. After placing the eggs in the incu- 
bator turn your lamp up a little so that it will not take so long to get your 
eggs to the proper temperature for incubation. When your thermometer 
registers 102, if it has a tendency to run higher, turn down the blaze of your 
lamp until it will stay at 102. Keep a steady heat of 102 the first week. If 
it runs to 103 the last of the first week, no harm results: the second week 
keep the temperature at 103; the third week keep the temperature at 103 
and 101. Do not let it run higher than 101 if you can help it. At pipping 
time keep the temperature at 103 and 101. This is the critical time. Too 
high a temperature and not enough ventilation is the cause of chicks dying 
the in shell. As the hatch progresses remove the shells and turn all the 
eggs with the pipped side up. They will oftimes smother when the pipped 
side is against the wire. 

Do not be afraid to open your machine so long as you keep your tem- 
perature up to 103 and 101. Do not disturb it until the chicks begin to 
come out of the shell. If you do not remove the shells, they will some- 
times slip over an egg that is pipped and smother the chick. If your ma- 
chine has not more than one or two ventilators, go to your machine every 
half hour and fan the door back and forth two or three times and fill the 
egg chambers with fresh air, or in other words, oxygen. The egg chambers 
must have fresh air while your eggs are hatching or your chick will die in 
the shell. I know that most of the instruction books say not to ppen your 
incubator till the hatch is done. This is a grand mistake and you will find 
it so if you will only investigate. There was not room enough in the nur- 
sery of my incubator to hold all the chicks I would hatch at one time. My 
incubator has nine ventilators, and then the chicks would open their 
mouths and pant. I would have to remove them as fast as they became 
strong enough. Too high a temperature at the beginning of the hatch 
injures the embryo; that is why some eggs start, then die after a few days 
of incubation. If the proper temperature has been maintained and some 
die after a few days, those are eggs with weak germs and are doomed 
whether they die at the first week or after incubation. 



Turning and Cooling the Egg 

"HEN placing the eggs in the incubator care should be taken to turn 
each egg over, as you do not turn them again for twenty-four hours. 
At the end of twenty-four hours turn them and change the outside 
eggs to the center and the center eggs to the outside. You will have a 
more even hatch by changing them iu this way about every four days dur- 
ing the hatch. Do not cool the eggs the first time you turn them, only as 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 9 

long it takes to turn and change them from the outside to center. But 
after this, turn and cool them twice a day, every day until the eggs begin 
to pip; then do not cool nor turn them any more. There is no given length 
of time to cool the eggs; that depends on the temperature of the room in 
which the incubator is located, and will have to be governed entirely by the 
operator. Just leave them out of the incubator till they feel cold to your 
face. There need be no fears that this cooling will do harm; the chicks will 
be the stronger for it and a larger per cent will hatch. In May, June and 
July, it takes longer for the eggs to cool than it does in March and April, 
and as the hatch advances you will observe there is more animal heat in the 
eggs, consequently it will take longer to cool them than it did in the first of 
the hatch. 

If you will always turn the eggs one way you will have less cripples. 
What I mean is, do not turn them backward one time and forward the next. 
Remove the first egg from each row, which will allow the eggs to move for- 
ward. Now with your hand roll them forward gently. You will note that 
the eggs are turned about half over. Next place the eggs you have re- 
moved in the vacant space in the rear end of the tray. This also changes 
their location in the incubator at each time of turning. For instance, 
after you have turned the eggs to the number of times you have eggs in 
each row you will then have the eggs that were first placed in the rear 
end of the tray back again to the front end of the tray. If you will always 
turn them toward the little opening where the chicks drop into the nur- 
sery you cannot make a mistake. In order to obtain the best results I 
would advise the operator to shift the trays from end to end and from side 
to side in their machine every time they turn the eggs, providing their ma- 
chine has two trays. If they are operating a small incubator with but one 
tray, then all that is necessary is to turn the tray end for end. You will 
find this is quite a help in operating and will overcome difficulties that are 
bound to exist where you set so many eggs together. 



Ventilation and How to Prevent Chicks From 
Dying in the Shell 

THERE are so many kinds and makes of incubators. Some are made 
of good material but do not give satisfaction because they are not 
ventilated properly. Others are made of poor material and soon 
warp, or the tank will rust out. Some do not give a uniform heat through- 
out the egg chambers, which makes a lingering hatch. Now I will tell 
you how an incubator should be ventilated for best results. There should 
be four ventilators in the bottom, one at each end, about six inches from 
the end and on a line with the center of the incubator, and one at each 



10 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, EEED AND PREVENT 

side, (I mean the front and back), about six inches from the front and back 
and on a line with the center the other way of the incubator. These ven- 
tilators should be about one-half inch holes and a strip of tin bent and 
tacked over them so that the cold air will not come in contact with the 
eggs. Then there should be two holes the same size as the others in each 
end just below the tank and about six inches from the front and back of 
the machine. There should be no ventilators in the front or back sides of 
your machine, only in the ends, bottom and top. The ventilators in the ends 
should be above the eggs so there will not be a direct draught over the eggs. 
There should be a two-inch hole in the top of the machine, about the cen- 
ter. This ventilator I use when my chicks are hatching. I open all nine 
ventilators after the eggs begin to pip. This gives the chicks plenty of 
fresh air, and fresh air contains oxygen, which is the life of every living 
creature. Not a living thing that breathes on the face of the earth could 
live without oxygen. Then do you wonder that your chicks die in the 
shell, shut up in a tight box with a temperature of 103 or 104, with little or 
no fresh air. And your directions will tell you not to open the door until 
your hatch is done. Dear reader, just reason a little and you will see that 
this is all a grand mistake. Your chicks must have fresh air and if your 
machine hasn't the proper ventilation just go to it every little while and 
fan the door back and forth three or four times. This is necessary only at 
hatching time, Chicks must have air, so do not fail to give it to them. I 
never allow my chicks to pant in the incubator. I have taken the tray out 
and sat it upon the machine for a minute to give my chicks fresh air, for 
if they get over-heated in the incubator it is just as fatal to them as if they 
were over-heated in the brooder. Too high a temperature and not enough 
ventilation at hatching time will cause chicks to have bowel trouble. 

The ventilators on the end of the machine should have a round piece 
of tin tacked over them so they can be moved to give fresh air when it is 
necessary. I open these end ventilators one-third on the third day of in- 
incubation. At the end of the first week I open them a little more, and 
every day or two I open a litttle more until at the end of the second week 
they are wide open — except the one on top — and continue so until the end 
of the hatch. The two inch ventilator on top I begin to open at pipping 
time, just a little at first and more as I see that it is necessary. Incuba- 
tors that haven't enough ventilation can be reconstructed by putting in 
extra ventilators and made to do good work. The four ventilators in the 
bottom of the incubator should be left open all the time with a piece of 
cupped tin over them. This piece of tin should be about four inches long 
and three inches wide and cupped just a little so the air can enter the 
egg chamber. This tin gives the air a chance to get warm before it reaches 
the eggs. I have hatched chicks by the thousand according to the direc- 
tions I have marked out to you, and so can you if you will do just as I 
have told you. 



CHICKS' FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 11 

Moisture and When to Introduce It 

A FEW days before your incubator is due to hatch, take a piece of 
loosely woven burlap or coffee sack, wash it perfectly clean and 
scald. After it dries press it and cut it just the size of the bottom 
of your incubator. Hem it all around so the little chicks will not tangle in 
the ravelings. Now if you have any ventilators in the bottom of your 
machine (which you should have), make a hole in the burlap just over the 
ventilators and whip it around like a buttonhole, so that the air can pass 
through into the egg chamber, just the same as if the burlap was not there. 
As soon as you see four or five eggs pipped, pour boiling water over the 
burlap, just enough to make it wet all over, not damp, but wet, so that it 
will drip a little. Do not try to ring it, but remove the trays just as quickly 
as you can and spread the burlap in the bottom of your machine. It will 
not need tacking if you make it to fit. Now replace your trays while the 
burlap is steaming, close your doors, and do not open again for awhile, so 
the eggs will get the full benefit of the steam. Leave this burlap in the 
bottom of your machine till the hatch is done. This is all the moisture you 
need to introduce into your machine during the whole hatch. I used 
to moisten my eggs every day. The consequence was I drowned my chicks, 
or a great many of them. I have learned by experience that eggs need 
drying out instead of moisture. You will observe during the last few days 
of incubation that your trays are much lighter than they were the first week, 
of incubation. Sometimes chicks have a tendency to stick to the shell. 
This is why you should put this steaming burlap in the bottom of your 
incubator. It penetrates the egg at once, loosens the chick so it can turn 
and pip the shell clear around and come out. The pans which the Incuba- 
tor companies furnish with their incubators are a perfect nuisance. They 
moisten a few eggs, that's true, but only those that are just above the pan. 
For best results and an even hatch you want your eggs all moistened at the 
same time. If you would have success do not fail to do as I have told you 
in every detail. This damp burlap may have a tendency to lower the tem- 
perature a little. If so turn up your lamp until your thermometor registers 
103 or 104. 



How to Pip the Egg 

AFTER the chicks are all hatched that you think are going to hatch 
you can save a great many by pipping the shell yourself, by doing 
as I will tell you. I have saved as many as twenty in one hatch. 
First, break the egg at A. Strike it gently on the head of a nail or some- 
thing very solid. Remove enough of the shell so you can see the position 
of the chick in the shell. If the chick is alive you may find the membrane 



12 



HOW TO HATCH, BEOOD, FEED AND PEEVENT 



broken at B and the chick's bill protruding. If so, place it in the incuba- 
tor again till the blood has all been taken up by the chick and it begins to 
make exertions to get out, then remove the shell, providing it does not bleed. 
If you do not find the bill at B, then pip the shell at C. If the membrane 
or lining of the egg resembles greased paper open it with a pin to give the 
chick air till it is all finished up. You can remove a great deal of the shell 




Diagram showing how to pip the egg 



if you will keep the membrane damp, and no harm will result. I have of- 
ten removed nearly the entire shell before I could locate the bill. The 
chick must have air. Open the egg some where whether you find the bill 
or not. Some times the bill will strike the wing and cannot reach the 
shell, but the chick would be strong and healthy if you can only save it 
Some one will tell you that a chick that cannot hatch without help is no 
good. This is all a mistake. I advise you to save all you can, if you do 
have to pick them out of the shell, for you will lose enough after they are 
hatched if you happen to over-feed or over-heat them. If you will remove 
the shells off those that die it will give you an idea of the exact position of 
the chick and make it easier for you to locate the bill. It will be a great 
help to you. 

How to Prepare the Brooder for the Chicks 

FIRST place paper in the bottom of the brooder, then cover the entire 
brooder floor with dry sand, (dry sand, mind you), to the depth of 
one-half inch, if the weather is quite cold. But if it is warm, one- 
fourth inch will do. The feed room of brooder should have straw or timo- 
thy chaff scattered over the floor, so it will furnish the chicks exercise 
while waiting for their feed. Place your lamp in your brooder about five 
or six hours before you want to put the chicks in it. Be sure the sand is 



CHICKS FROM DYING I1ST THE SHELL 13 

warm and keep the temperature at about eighty degrees. If you have a 
good hatch the temperature will rise to about ninety degrees after the 
chicks are put in the brooder. This temperature, ninety degrees, should 
be kept for the first week or ten days, then gradually wean them away from 
the heat as their strength will permit. The operator can lower the heat 
gradually and still keep the flock comfortable. If the chicks crowd to the 
warmest part of the brooder and pile up, it is an indication of too low a 
temperature. If the chicks move about with drooping wings and open 
mouths and sit outside of the hover, then the temperature is too high. 
There is no regularity known that will give as good satisfaction as the 
chicks themselves, as their actions will easily demonstrate whether they 
are too cold or too hot. The ventilators should be left part way open to 
admit fresh air, but no set rule could be given here just how wide they 
should be left open, as there are many different makes of brooders and much 
depends on the weather as well as the location of the brooder. The brooder 
should be kept absolutely clean, removing the sand and chaff every other 
day. Chicks in a good brooder, if furnished with pure, warm air at all 
times, and if the brooder be kept clean will thrive and grow very rapidly, 
while on the other hand, if the brooder becomes filthy you may expect to 
lose nearly the entire hatch. The gas that raises from a filthy brooder is 
very poisonous to little chicks and causes dysentery. This becomes conta- 
gious and will go through your whole flock if you do not remove the afflict- 
ed chicks and clean and disinfect your brooders and brooder houses. This 
can be done with lime and sulphur. White wash your brooders and brooder 
houses with fresh lime. Air-slacked lime will not do; it is not strong 
enough. Then fumigate with sulphur. Remove your chicks to a place 
where they will be comfortable while this work is going on. The brooder 
must be dry before placing the chicks in it again. The white wash will 
answer a double purpose; it will destroy mites and lice as well as cleanse 
your house and brooder. If you will always place a newspaper in the 
brooder before putting in the sand and chaff it will be a great deal easier 
cleaned. When your chicks are two weeks old you can use hay or straw 
instead of sand on your brooder floors. Change it twice a week until they 
are three weeks old, then once a week will do. Watch for mites; they can 
get in their deadly work in a very short time. They breed and accumulate 
very fast and will sap the lives of your little chicks before you hardly know 
it. There are a great many kinds of lice killers on the market, but Lee's 
Lice Killer is the best I have ever tried; it is strong and does good work. 
I could not raise chicks without it. One can is generally enough to last 
the whole season. Keep your lamp burners clean and also your wicks. 
Dirty wicks are often the cause of brooder lamps exploding. You can clean 
your lamp burners by boiling them in strong soap suds. Put your sand in 
pans and place in the oven and heat it. It will not take so long to heat 
the brooder if sand is thus warmed. 



14 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

When to Remove Chicks to the Brooder 

W you have a good hatch, your incubator will become crowded before the 
hatch is done. Remove all the strong chicks that seem dissatisfied and 
crowd to the front of the incubator to the brooder that you have heat- 
ed and prepared for them according to directions. Do not take any from 
the machine only those that are lively and can toddle around. Now watch 
the temperature of your brooder. Do not let it get too warm, for just as 
soon as you put chicks in the brooder the temperature will begin to rise. 
Keep turning the lamp down and keep the temperature at about 90 de- 
grees. I place my brooder in the kitchen or dining room for the first 
thirty-six hours, or until the hatch is all done and the time comes to feed 
them. It makes less work for the operator and you can watch the temper- 
ature of your brooder better. You may think it will not look well to put 
your chicks in the kitchen or dining room. Do not think any such thing. 
I would rather think it was an ornament even to the parlor, considering 
the prices of poultry and eggs for the last three years. If you can save 
your hatch by using the best room in your house for your brooder for a 
few days do it, for it would be just like piling up silver dollars. If you 
have an early hatch, say in March or April, and you think it too cold to 
remove your brooder and chicks to the brooder house, first spread a news 
paper in front of your brooder and scatter a little sand and chaff over it. 
Nail some short boards together and make a little run. Then let your 
little chicks out for exercise and feed. If you have the room to spare keep 
this little run in front of your brooder for a few days and let the chicks 
run in and out at will. They will soon learn that the brooder is warm and 
will depend upon it warming them just the same as they would a hen. Re- 
move the paper as often as it gets soiled, say twice a day. Scatter your 
feed on this paper, also a little timothy seed. This will give them exercise, 
for .they will work and scratch and chatter and seem better contented than 
if they had nothing to do. After a few days, when the chicks have learned 
that the brooder is their home and mother, remove them to the 
brooder house, they will be stronger and can stand the cold better than 
they could if you had removed them there just after taking them out of 
the incubator. Some times in the spring, the temperature falls quite low 
in the night. You will have to watch this closely, as your chicks will pile 
up and smother. They will never pile up if they are warm enough. I always 
kill the cripples. They never amount to anything if they live, and all the 
time you put in on them is just wasted. Some times, on a rainy day, after 
the chicks are quite large, they will pile up in the brooder and smother or 
trample the weak ones to death. You can avoid this by making a fire in 
the brooder house. There are old second hand stoves one can buy very 
reasonable that will answer the purpose. I have a stove in each one of 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 15 

my brooder houses and in the early spring I keep a fire all day so the 
chicks will not become chilled and take cold. They seem better contented, 
too. I cover the floor of the brooder house with dry dirt in the early 
spring; it keeps out the wind and makes it much warmer. I sprinkle ashes 
and a little lime over this floor and when the house is warm and the 
sun shines in on the floor the chicks will just make the dust fly. When 
this becomes filthy clean it out and put in some more. You will not have 
to clean it often. It is less work than scrubbing the floor. 



How and What to Feed Brooder Chicks 

'OR years past every reader of the poultry and agricultural papers have 
read the statement, reiterated time and time again, that it is a com- 
paratively easy matter to hatch chicks in incubators, but a difficult 
matter to raise them. So it has been, so it is today. Feeding brooder 
chicks is the most important part of poultry culture. I have found this 
out by experience. I used to feed my chicks to death. I killed them try- 
ing to be good to thetn, consequently I have given the subject of feeding 
brooder chicks a great deal of careful study and have found at last how 
and what to feed them for best results. Do not feed the young chicks 
for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours after they are hatched, but allow 
them to pick at sand, charcoal, a little bran, and timothy seed, that has 
been placed in the brooder. At the end of twenty-four or thirty-six hours, 
to 200 chicks feed one-third cup of broken rice. If you cannot obtain 
broken rice just grind some whole rice in your coffee mill. Do not grind it 
very fine as a great deal will go to dust which will be a loss. Feed this 
raw and dry. Then in about three hours give them a drink of boiled, sweet 
skimmed milk. Do not let them drink all they want of it for ten days, but 
just enough to moisten their food real good. In the evening give them 
one-half teacup of lettuce chopped real fine. This amount is for 200 
chicks. Feed rice, lettuce and boiled milk but once the first day. The 
second day feed one-third teacup of rice three times, one in the morning, 
noon and night, and one half cup of lettuce at 10:00 o'clock in the fore- 
noon and one-half cup, chopped fine, at 3:00 in the afternoon. Give boiled 
sweet milk but twice a day for ten days, once in the forenoon and once in 
the afternoon. Do not put this drink in open dishes, or troughs, and do 
not try to water all at the same time; but make some fountains out of old 
tin fruit cans. Punch a hole about the size of a ten penny nail one-fourth 
inch down from the open end of the can. Put the milk or water in this. 
Place a saucer over the top and turn real quickly and the milk or water 
will come out as fast as the chicks drink it. A quart can is the right size 
for a saucer and a pint can the size for a sauce dish. This prevents the 



16 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

chicks from getting wet. Water just a few chicks at a time so you will be 
sure they do not get too much, for they can founder on water or milk just 
as quickly as they can on feed, and it affects them just the same. Take a 
cracker box and put two of the can fountains in it, then put ten or fifteen 
chicks in it and watch them and see that they all get a drink, but not too 
much. After they have had enough, remove them to another box. Do 
not put them back in the brooder as you will not know which chicks you 
have watered. Now put ten or fifteen more in the box that contains the 
fountains and do just as you did before, and so on until they have all had 
a drink. Do this for several days until they all learn how to drink, then 
fix more cans, about six or eight to 200 chicks, and they can all drink at 
once, but do not let them have all they will drink. After ten days fill the 
cans with water and leave them sit till the chicks have had all they want, 
then you can keep water or milk by them all the time. Early in spring 
before you can have lettuee, cut clover is a good substitute. They must 
have something green. Cabbage must not be fed to brooder chicks till 
they are four weeks old; it loosens their bowels too much. After the chicks 
are eight days old begin to feed a few bread crumbs and a little cracked 
wheat mixed with their rice. Peed this till they are three weeks old, then 
you can mix a little course ground meal with their feed. When they are 
four weeks old feed anything you please and as much as you please. You 
should feed ground bone or beef scraps three times a week after the first 
week, not too much at a time; it takes the place of bugs, worms and grass- 
hoppers which they would get if running with a hen Every poultry raiser 
should have a bone cutter; it does not cost much and one can utilize every 
old bone and convert it into profit, which otherwise would be a waste. For 
best results in raising brooder chicks you must make the conditions as 
near like they were with a hen as possible. Scatter timothy seed and bran 
in the chaff in the brooder, also over the floor of the broodor house; it will 
keep the chicks busy and it would take a long time for them to eat enough 
to hurt them. 

If you can keep your chicks healthy for two weeks, all danger is past 
so far as feed is concerned, but watch your brooder and brooder house 
closely for mites; if they get a start in your brooder they will soon sap the 
life of your little chicks. 

Do not feed any sour food or moulded bread to your chicks. Do not 
wet their food. Wet, sloppy food will cause dysentery which is very fatal 
to brooder chicks because it is very contagious; it is liable to go through 
your whole flock if it once gets started. You should remove all chicks 
that are affected in this way and clean your brooder thoroughly, then close 
it up and burn sulphur in it. This will kill all disease germs. 

After your chicks are twelve days old you can increase their feed. To 
200 chicks give one-half cup of rice three times a day and one cup of let- 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 17 

tuce twice a day. You can feed part rice and part wheat, or bread crumbs. 
Do not feed more than they will clean up; if they leave any miss one feed. 
Count your chicks and measure your feed accordingly. I have made ar- 
rangements with a Chicago firm from which to buy my rice. I can buy it 
so that I can sell it for S3.00 per hundred weight. This is cheaper than 
wheat for it does not require more than half as much rice as it does most 
any other kind of food. It is the best food for little chicks that can be pro- 
cured; it is nutritious but nothing rich or greasy about it. There is not 
so much danger of bowel trouble when you feed rice. It is the best food I 
have ever tried and I have tried everything. Break up charcoal and scat- 
ter over the floor of your brooder house, or better still, pound it up real 
fine and mix it with the chopped lettuce; it keeps their crops sweet and 
aids digestion. You must sow lots of lettuce; it will save so much feed. 



How to Hatch Ducks by Incubator 

IT takes the same temperature and treatment for duck eggs as it does for 
hen eggs, with the exception of moisture. Duck eggs require moisture 
while hen eggs do not. You do not introduce moisture into your ma- 
chine however till the second week of incubation. Then, about every four 
days place a damp cloth (one thickness only) in the nursery or bottom of 
your iacubator, leave it there until it is dry, then remove it until the time 
comes to replace it again. At pipping time use the burlap just the same 
as you do when hatching chicks. Do not use the burlap for moisture dur- 
ing the hatch, as it is heavy and will hold more moisture than is required. 
I use an open flour sack. I wring it as dry as I can out of hot water. Watch 
your eggs at pipping time and turn all the pipped eggs with pipped side up 
so they will not smother. Do not place hen eggs and duck eggs in the 
same machine, as the treatment is different, also the time. It takes three 
weeks for hen eggs to hatch and four weeks for duck eggs, consequently 
the changes of the eggs take place at different times. 

Brooding Ducks: Ducks do not need as much care as chicks; they 
can stand more cold and wet. However, I keep them warm for a few days, 
then let them run at will, but place them in a brooder at night for rats, 
skunks and weasles are death on young ducks. 

You can make a comfortable brooder out of a good box for ducks. 
Just remove one board, so as to give the top a slant, replace the top, saw 
the sides even with the top, then take a piece of oil cloth or an old grain 
sack, or even a piece of muslin will do. Cover with common barn paint. 
If you put it on quite thick, one coat will do. I have made good coops for 
hens and chicks in this way. 



18 



HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 




Mammoth Imperial Pekin Ducks 

The Best Ducks Raised. 

The Pekin variety, above all others, seems to meet the market want 
best. They are the most popular, as well as the most profitable duck we 
have in this country. They are very large, creamy white, laying from 100 
to 150 eggs each season. They are, as a rule, very easy to raise, mature 
quickly, and are the leading variety for market; do not require water except 
for drinking. Pekin ducks are, as a rule, very healthy, not being subject 
to many of the diseases that poultry are heir to. The demand for Pekins 
was never as large as during the past year; thus proving their popularity^ 
and that people realize that there is money in duck culture. 



How and What to Feed Ducks 



IN the first place you should never keep ducks confined only for a day or 
two. Just as soon as they are strong enough to run after a hen turn 
them out. 

You do not have to be as particular about feeding them as you do 
chicks or turkeys; they will eat almost any thing. But for best results it 
is better to feed them cooked feed for the first week or two. Corn bread 
without any grease in it is good; also light bread soaked in boiled milk. 
After two weeks they will eat corn meal, boiled potatoes, beef scraps or 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 19 

most any thing you have a mind to feed them. They should have ground 
bone about three times a week and lettuce as many times a day as you have 
time to give it to them. Peed them lettuce from the start; they are very 
fond of it and will grow a great deal faster and do a great deal better than 
without it. If you have a hatch early in the spring before lettuce comes 
on, feed them alfalfa meal. Steam it or pour a little boiling water over it 
to moisten and make it soft. It is a cheap feed for either chicks, ducks or 
geese, early in the Spring, before there is any green stuff to feed them. Do 
not fail to plant lettuce every week and lots of it. You can almost raise 
ducks on lettuce. It will lessen your expense of feed one-half. I have 
never raised enough yet to do me, but if I live I shall sow it every week 
this coming season. You can plant it in little nooks and corners of your 
gardens and fields that would otherwise lie idle. If you buy your seed by 
the pound you can get it a great deal cheaper. Ducks are more healthy 
when given plenty of lettuce. The Pekin is the most profitable breed you 
can raise; they grow fast and mature young. Keep plenty of fresh water 
by them at all times. 



Mating, Breeding and Rearing Turkeys. 

THE Mammoth Bronze turkey is the acknowledged king of all turkeys. 
Plumage of the male, on back and breast, is a brilliant bronze hue, 
which glistens in the sunlight like burnished gold. Wing coverts 
are a beautiful rich bronze, the feathers terminating in a wide bronze 
band across the wings when folded, and separated from the primaries by a 
glossy black ribbon-like mark, formed by the ends of the coverts. 

Tail. Each feather is irregularly penciled with narrow bands of light 
brown, and ending in a broad black band, with a wide edging of dull white 
or gray. In the female the entire plumage is similar to that of the male, 
but the colors are not so brilliant or clearly defined, and the edging of the 
feathers is generally a dull white or gray. 

The Mammoth Bronze is the hardiest of all turkeys, and the most 
extensively raised of any breed. They are good layers, many claiming 
them to lay over 100 eggs in one season. However, there are exceptions in 
all things, but is no unusual occurrence for a turkey hen to lay fifty eggs 
during hatching season, say from April 1st to July 1st. Most turkeys do 
not la}' after the 1st of July. 

To get the best results in mating and breeding turkeys the most im- 
portant factors is the relations of the breeding stock, which should 
be strong, vigorous birds of both sexes, as we get enough weak tur- 
keys without breeding for them. So if strong healthy turkeys are to be ex- 
pected, we must breed from the most selected stock that can be found. I 



20 



HOW TO HATCH, BEOOD, FEED AND PREVENT 



am a lover of the Bronze turkey. They are the largest breed of turkeys 
found and the most profitable, I think, of any turkey you can raise, al- 
though I have been raising the white turkey for several years, as my 
neighbors were raising the bronze birds, and I have had good success. Se- 
lect the breed that suits you best, then you will be more apt to give them 
better care and advantages than you would a breed you did not like. Se- 
lect females with good bone and lone, deep bodies, with head and wattles 
as red as possible, as these qualities show good health. ' Avoid all extremes 
either in overgrown or small, weak birds. Those who use great extremes 
usually round up in the fall with very small flocks, while those who use 







Bronze Turkeys. 



better judgment in selecting their breeding stock almost invariably raise 
good flocks. Do not allow your breeders to become over-fat. Keep them 
in good condition and give them plenty of exercise. Turkeys should be 
allowed free range at all times, but keep them gentle and never frighten 
them. Teach them to nest near the house, if you can, by building appro- 
priate'nests for them. This can be done by laying empty barrels in fence 
corners or under hedges and placing brush and limbs over them. Put 
some straw in the barrel and leave room for some brush over the front of 
the barrel. They like such a nest and think they are hiding in a brush 
pile. If you let your turkeys go to the timber and make their nest, the 



CHICKS FKOM DYING IN THE SHELL 21 

crows are sure to rob their nests, or they will chill, for we have some 
very cold nights after the turkeys begin to lay in the spring. If you can 
induce them to lay in the nests you have prepared for them, you can 
gather the eggs daily and place them where you can turn them each day 
until ready for incubation. Turkey hens make splendid incubators and 
rarely ever forsake the nest until their brood is out. I always give my 
hens from sixteen to twenty eggs each. This, however, will depend upon 
the size of the hen. 

I always let my turkeys raise their own young as it is their nature to 
take them into the pastures and meadows where the insects, which fur- 
nishes a great part of their food, are more plentiful. Turkeys raised 
around the poultry yard are more subject to disease than those that run 
at large. When I raise turkeys with hens I feed them boiled milk and 
broken rice not cooked, lettuce chopped fine, a little bread soaked in boiled 
milk, charcoal and oyster shells, for the first week. Then I begin to feed 
a little ground bone; not much at first; it has a tendency to loosen the 
bowels. Feed them rice and light bread till they are three weeks old, then 
you can feed meal, or better still corn bread, but do not stop the rice and 
light bread entirely until they get used to the corn bread or meal. They 
should be fed three times a day. 

Turkeys should not be cooped up or compelled to roost on the same 
spot each night, unless the coop be cleaned every morning and exposed to 
sun and wind so it will be perfectly dry by night. When large enough to 
fly up into trees, or on roosts, then begin to feed cracked corn, wheat and 
soaked oats. When the nights grow cold in the fall insects begin to die, 
consequently you will have to feed the turkeys more grain if you want nice 
plump fowls to put on the market at Thanksgiving. A great many times 
in the fall of the year you have small potatoes that are not marketable, 
also cabbage and beets, more than you can dispose of. They are excellent 
to feed to your turkeys. Boil the potatoes and beets, but the cabbage can 
be feed raw. 

Sprinkle a little sulphur over your turkeys at night, if you have them 
in a coop. The lice will not bother so much if you do this. 



Culture of Geese 

Goose eggs do not hatch well in an incubator. 

THE Toulouse geese are the most profitable to raise; they are an En- 
glish breed. The bill and feet are a dark orange color. Both male 
and female are uniform in color; heads, neck and back a dark grey, 
breast light grey; beyond the legs to the tail they are pure white. They 
grow very large and live to a great old age. Goose raising is very profit- 



22 



HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 



able if one will manage it right, for they need no grain in summer, but they 
must have plenty of grass. If one would fence of an acre for geese you 
would be surprised how many you could raise on that one acre. I always 
set goose eggs under hens; they hatch better than with geese. I never 
pick my geese in the laying season, but I pick the ganders all the year 
round. I pick the geese in fall and early winter but not after February. 
In early spring when there is no grass I use alfalfa meal or cut clover to 
feed the goslings; they will not live without green stuff of some sort. Let- 
tuce is fine for geese but it takes lots of it. I used to plant a little lettuce 
in a box in the window in early spring to feed to my early goslings; they 




Toulouse Geese 

liked it very much and did well on it. They will not bear confinement. An 
orchard is a nice place in which to raise geese. You should keep only what 
you want for breeding purposes through the winter for they eat a great 
deal of grain and are not profitable to keep for their feathers alone. They 
should be fed corn, oats, millet, wheat, speltz, or anything that will fatten 
them quickly in the fall, then put them on the market just as soon as you 
think the price will justify you to do so. As soon as grass is gone they are 
very expensive for they will eat all of the time if they can get food, so the 
sooner you dispose of your surplus the better. The Jews are very fond of 
goose meat and they use the oil for cooking the same as we do lard, con- 
sequently geese command a better price if they are quite fat. 



CHICKS FEOM DYING IN THE SHELL 



23 




Barred Plymouth Rocks. 

This breed is as solid as its name; they stand acknowledged as the 
best general purpose fowl in the world today; they are quick to develop 
and make plump, juicy broilers at the age of eight and ten weeks. They 
are a great favorite with the market poultrymen who breed this variety 
more extensively than all other pure breeds combined. They are excel- 
lent all the year round layers, and as a fancier's fowl have reached a popu- 
larity never before known. 



24 



HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, EEED AND PREVENT 




"ill! 

Silver Laced Wyandottes. 

This popular American breed is very beautiful as well as profitable, 
and for a table fowl are unexcelled. They are among the best of layers, 
careful sitters and their flesh is fine grained. They are hardy and mature 
early; have bright yellow legs and skin, and low rose combs; and combine 
all the good qualities of a general purpose fowl. 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 25 

Which is the Best General Purpose Fowl? 

I FIND the Barred Plymouth Rocks or the Silver Laced Wyandottes are 
the best for a general purpose chicken, where one wants to keep only a 
few. But if it is egg production you are after and do not care so 
much about the market quality of the stock, I would advise you to breed 
the Single Comb or the Rose Comb Brown Leghorn. There is no use to 
look any farther; they are good enough and the eggs are easily procured at 
reasonable figures, for so many people all over the country are raising 
them. They are hardy and do not require more than half the feed that 
the larger breeds do. I intend to lay in a supply of thoroughbred Plymouth 
Rocks and Leghorns this coming season and will try to supply my patrons 
with thoroughbred stock at more reasonable prices than they can procure 
them elsewhere. 



Feeding Hens for Egg Production in Winter 

TO do this you must commence in the previous spring. Plant beets, 
carrots, onions, turnips, cabbage, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, 
wheat, corn, oats, speltz and millet. You may think this is more of a 
variety than is necessary, but it is not You must study what is required 
for egg production in summer, and make the conditions in winter as near 
like those of the warmer months as possible. You will have to have char- 
coal, alfalfa, and clover meal to take the place of grass; crushed oyster 
shells and air-slacked lime to make egg shells; broken dishes or crockery 
to make a sharp grit to grind their food. If you can get good sharp grit or 
gravel it will do just as well, but we often forget to lay in a supply till 
after the ground is frozen, then we can not get it. But the hen must get 
something of the sort, or they will have indigestion, and your chickens will 
droop and die. Broken dishes make a good substitute for grit. It should 
be broken up into pieces about the size or a little smaller than grains of 
corn. 

This is how I feed my hens for egg production, in winter and have 
obtained good results: I feed corn in the morning, then about 10 o'clock 1 
feed them a mash consisting of boiled potatoes, chopped onions, alfalfa meal, 
charcoal, bran, shorts and oil meal. I give them this mash every morning. 
About twice or three times a week, I feed a little ground bone and blood meal 
in their mash. I give them baked squash, beets or pumpkin about three 
times a week. At about one o'clock each day L fed them oats that have 
been scalded; at about four o'clock I feed corn again, I give plenty of warm 
water, with a little sulphate of iron (copperas) in it; this keeps them healthy. 
Now you will think this a great deal of trouble, but if you will watch your 
hens after feeding them their mash and see how they relish it and how 



26 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD. FEED AND PREVENT 

happy they seem, it will pay you for all your trouble. Besides you will 
have the satisfaction of getting a nice lot of eggs at the time of year when 
prices are the highest. I am now selling eggs at twenty-four cents per 
dozen; that would be $7.20 a case. Don't you think that price will justify 
you in giving your chickens a little more attention? 

You must have warm houses for your chickens. I think every hen 
house should be lathed and plastered; which keeps out the wind and snow, 
and your hens will soon pay for the expense of plastering. I parch corn 
for them two or three times a week. It takes but a moment to put it in 
the oven and it will be parched by the time you have your work done, 
so there is no time lost. I never feed frozeu corn, but I take it into the 
house until the frost is out of it, or, still better, warm it. Always salt the 
mash a little. Chickens, as well as any other animal, require salt. 

If your hens lay in winter you can set your incubator so much earlier 
in the spring. I have aH my brooder houses plastered. One can rid their 
houses of lice and mites much easier when the houses are plastered than 
when they are only boarded up. 



Producing Early Molting in Hens 

'HEN a specialty is made of producing winter eggs, it is of much im- 
portance to have the hens shed their feathers early in the fall, so 
the new plumage may be grown before cold weather begins. In 
case molting is much delayed the production of the new coat of feathers in 
cold weather is such a drain on the vitality of the fowls that few if any 
eggs are produced until spring, while if the molt takes place early in the 
season the fowls begin the winter in good condition and with proper hous- 
ing and feeding may be made to lay during the entire winter. One can 
promote early molting by withholding their food, or a part of it, for two 
weeks. Peed just enough to keep them living. This will stop egg produc- 
tion and reduce the weight of the fowls. Then feed heavily on a ration 
suitable for the formation of feathers and the general building up of the 
system. Fowls should be fed a mash consisting of boiled potatoes, bran, 
meat scraps, corn meal, ground bone, oyster shell and cut clover; then feed 
corn, wheat, millet, oats and speltz, a ration rich in protein or nitrogenious 
matter, which is believed to be especially valuable^for promoting the growth 
of feathers as well as muscle. In about six weeks your fowls will have a 
new coat of feathers and will begin to lay, and if fed properly and have a 
warm house, will continue to lay all winter. Try this, dear reader, and you 
will find that your fowls will enter the cold weather of winter in better con- 
dition than fowls that have been fed continually during the molting period 
on an egg producing ration. Do not fail to give a tonic in their drinking 
water. Give good, sharp grit. Here is where we often make a mistake. 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 27 

When the ground is snow covered the fowls cannot get grit unless we have 
prepared it for them and we often forget it until it is frozen, and then we 
cannot procure it. Broken glass or chinaware makes a good substitute for 
gravel. 

The White of the Egg Makes the Chick 

During incubation the chick derives its nourishment from the white of 
the egg and not the yolk. The yolk has nothing to do with the formation 
of the chick, but is the nutritious food which the newly hatched chick 
draws upon for sustenance during its early stages of existence. Conse- 
quently the chick requires no food until from twenty-four to thirty- six 
hours' after being hatched. A chick can live without food for six days. 

If Fertile Eggs Abe Wanted — If fertile eggs are wanted you should 
have at least one cockerel to twelve hens of the heavy breeds, but one 
cockerel to fifteen hens of the light weights, such as the Leghorns and 
Minorcas, are sufficient; they are a smaller fowl, but they have more vi- 
tality than the larger breeds. 



Find a Good Market And Meet Its Demands 

THERE is one thing that is of as great importance in the business of 
rearing poultry as the feeding, breeding and management of the 
flock; it is the business of finding a good market and preparing 
the fowls for that market. It is true that any thing that is well raised is 
half sold, but to say that any thing is half sold is only half enough. We 
should be able to say that our stock is well fed, properly fitted and well 
sold. When we are able to reach this stage of the game then we are in a 
position to state what the possibilities of the business are. Remember 
that desirable goods always sell easiest. When market prices are ruling 
low, it is the best that obtains fair prices, while the culls are held over. 
The undesirable stuff should not be put upon the market; it will lower 
the standard of your better stuff. Keep the culls at home, feed them up 
and eat them, or sell on the home market, but do not ship them. This is 
not a matter of theory to be written on paper and to be read so as to en- 
thuse people, but it should be put into practice, and those who put it into 
practice soonest will be the ones to make business a success. In every 
market there are those who follow out these lines and the poultry buyers 
know them, and their goods are always satisfactory and in demand. Mar- 
kets, as well as how to raise poultry, should be studied. This is a matter 
that has more importance attached to it than it is given credit for. Study 
the market and trj' to meet it. 



28 HOW TO HATCH, BRO <D, FEED AND PREVENT 

How to Prepare Young Cockerels for Market 

IT is a waste of food to keep young cockerels after they weigh three or 
four pounds each, as they are sold as "old roosters" after their combs 
grow. In the market old roosters bring from three to five ceDts per 
pound, while young ones often sell from fifteen to twenty cents per pound. 
The best way to prepare young cockerels for the market is to separate 
them from the hens. Nearly every one has an old building of some kind 
they do not use in summer. That will do to put them in. Feed them soft 
feed, such as meal, potatoes and bran mixed in a mash, salt this a little 
and you will be surprised how much they will gain in two weeks. It will 
pay you to try it. Give them some green food, such as lettuce or cabbage. 
They must have plenty of grit and pure, fresh water, or sweet skimmed 
milk is better. They will grow as fast as cajjons and be ready for the 
market in two or three weeks. I think that caponizing is a cruel practice 
and is unnecessary. 

Breeders and Success 

THE requirements of pure-bred poultry are constantly growing more 
and more imperative owing to the demand by the people generally, 
the farmer as well as the fancier. The tendency of competition 
certainly demonstrates thib to be an age of necessity. Rewards are not to 
be accorded to the amount of noise we make, but to the quality of the ex- 
hibits; and certainly the more spirited the competition the better must be 
the systems adopted, the administrative ability of the poultry raiser being 
put to the test. Surely everyone will agree that the profits in any business 
are greater or smaller according to the management of that business, and 
we ought therefore to train ourselves to avoid all mistakes and calamities 
that have proved disadvantagious to success. 

One can start now with purebred poultry so much cheaper than 
they could a few years ago, as so many have them all over the country and 
you can get them by paying a few cents more per dozen for the eggs. 



Leghorns Not Good Setters 

Leghorns do not make good incubators; they are too nervous One 
should always keep some Plymouth Rock hens to hatch their chicks, pro- 
vided they do not hatch by artificial incubation. 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 



29 




Single Comb Brown Leghorns 

The acknowledged queen of the practical egg laying breeds is the 
Brown Leghorns when judged by the standard of the greatest number of 
marketable eggs produced at least cost. Not only are the hens persistent 
layers, but they are extremely active foragers and waste no time in setting. 
Like a good milch cow they put little fat upon their bones, but all surplus 
nourishment to egg production. The cost of growing them is compara- 
tively light; no more, perhaps, than one-half that of Brama or Cochin. 



30 



HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 




Rose Comb Brown Leghorns 

For a handsome bird and for egg producers the Leghorn stands at the 
head. There is no breed of fowls that lay so many eggs with little feed. 
Both the Rose and Single Comb Leghorn were originally imported from 
Leghorn, a seaport in Italy (hence their name). The Rose and Single Comb 
varieties are exactly alike in every respect excepting the comb. The Rose 
Comb Leghorns are of a medium size, have beautiful gay plumage, white 
ear-lobes and yellow legs, are symmetrical in form and very active and 
pleasiDg in appearance, are very hardy and chicks are easily raised on free 
range; they are good foragers and pullets lay at an early age. 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 31 



Grow Speltz for Your Poultry 

SPELTZ is a new grain from Russia. It has been grown in the United 
States in a small way for several years, and each succeeding season not 
only emphasizes its value as a poultry food, but it is readily eaten by 
all kinds of stock. It is found to be adapted to a wide range of soil and 
climate; it resists drouth and will thrive on poor lands and is not readily 
damaged by harvest rains. It yields more per acre than wheat, oats, rye 
or barley. We raised last year sixty bushels per acre. This cereal is covered 
with a shuck enclosing two kernels that resemble wheat when the shuck 
has been removed, but the kernel is larger. The head is just about as 
long as wheat and resembles it very much only on speltz two kernels grow 
together instead of one. It is the very best food for egg production that I 
have ever tried, except wheat. It is just as good as wheat and is a great 
deal cheaper, as you can grow so many more bushels per acre. It is a very 
rich food and should not be fed exclusively. It should be ground for little 
chicks. 

Poultry Industry 

IT is possible that if an accurate census of poultry and eggs could be 
taken it would be found that the value thereof would exceed $300,000,- 
000. This throws the "fancy" part far into the shade, The great 
trainloads of poultry and eggs going to the large cities are what show the 
magnitude of the poultry interests. Then there is also the large number 
of eggs used in the arts. In the face of a great array of figures and facts, 
let the poultry business have its proper place, for it is the rival of any 
other. Cattle, horses, sheep, swine, and even wheat are falling to the rear 
of poultry. 

Recipe for Keeping Eggs 

To every three gallons of water add one pound of fresh slacked lime 
and one-half pint of salt. Have it well dissolved, drop in your eggs one at 
a time, but, mind, do not crack them. If you wish to keep them eight 
months or a year, you can do so, but you must use them or sell them as 
soon as taken out of the water, or they will spoil. When you have put in 
all you wish, take a thin piece of board and place on top of the eggs. Be 
sure they are all under the brine. Then cover the board with salt. Now 
place them in a cool cellar. Your eggs must be strictly fresh. It would 
be well to test them to make sure. This is a good way to keep eggs for 
winter's high prices. 



32 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

A Talk on Incubators 




T 



r RYING to save a few dollars on the 
first cost of an incubator often re- 
sults in a very large additional 
cost through failure on the part of these 
so-called "cheap" machines to hatch more 
than half of the eggs, and when the eggs 
are worth more than the machine, as is 
true in many cases, the spoiling of ten or 
twelve dollars worth of eggs for the sake 
of saving two or three dollars on the first 
cost of an incubator is, to say the least, very doubtful economy. Never 
buy an incubator just because it is cheap; it will cause you lots of grief and 
many disappointments. Never buy a hot-air machine; it demands too much 
attention and care. In an incubator the heat is the life. Chilling the eggs 
means killing the germ and destroying the embryo chick. In a hot-air 
incubator the heat runs up too quickly and also runs down in the same 
way. If the lamp should happen to go out some cold night the tempera- 
ture would run right down and chill your eggs; not so in a hot water incu- 
bator. If the lamp should go out from any cause, the water would not 
get cold enough in a whole night to chill the eggs. I operated a hot-air 
machine longer than I have a hot water one, but I like the hot water and 
can operate it with less trouble than hot-air. Those who have hot-air ma- 
chines can have water pipes put in them if they so desire. Before I bought 
my incubator I sent every where for catalogues. I think I got twenty-two 
before I found a machine I liked. It was sold at a higher price than some 
others, but I knew it was a good machine. The heating device suited me 
and also the ventilation. I knew just what it took to constitute a good 
machine. I sent my order in at once for two machines. I have never lost 
more than twelve eggs at one time and have hatched every fertile egg at 
others. I operate the Hawkeye incubator; it is a good and nice looking 
machine. It is varnished. You cannot cover up the defects as well with 
varnish as you can with paint. I like an incubator that will hold 240 eggs 
better than I do the smaller machine. It does not take any more oil to 
operate a large machine than a small one, for the more animal heat 
there is the less oil it will take. Then, too, you can hatch more chicks at a 
time and get through with your incubator before hot weather sets in. 

One should have two brooders with each machine. If you crowd your 
chicks they are more likely to become diseased than where they are kept in 
small numbers. Dysentery often sets in where you have so many together. 
This disease is very fatal to young chicks. 



CHICKS FEOM DYING ITST THE SHELL 33 

How to Bui!d a Cheap Poultry House 

IN the first place you must keep your houses free from vermin, and when 
the nights begin to get cold and stormy gather all of your chickens from 
the trees, sheds and out-buildings into the house you have prepared 
for their winter quarters. This house should be warm and roomy with 
windows to give light and sunshine. If you are a renter and haven't a 
warm house for your poultry, and the landlord does not feel disposed to 
build one for you, .you can build a very comfortable house with a very 
little labor and no expense to speak of. If you offer to do the work the 
landlord will surely furnish the material. Pick out the location and meas- 
ure off the ground the size you want to build your house. Then set two 
rows of posts three feet apart, nail on some poles or old boards, then pack 
with straw, tramp it down hard so that the wind can not come through; 
lay poles over the top and cover deep with straw or hay. Put enough on 
to shed the rain; put your window and door in the south side, and you will 
find you have a very comfortable house for your poultry. If the mites 
bother in summer just throw out the straw packing and fill with new; burn 
the straw you take out so as to destroy the mites. Sprinkle Lice Killer all 
over the house and paint the roosts with it several times during the sum- 
mer and you will have no trouble. Whitewash your nests with lime and 
sprinkle air-slacked lime over the floor of your hen house. It will keep 
your fowls healthy and help to rid your house of mites and lice. There is no 
one plan that could be given to build a good poultry house that would suit 
everyone. It will depend entirely on the location and the pocketbook. 
The papers are full of plans. Pick out one that suits your demands and 
means, but plaster it by all means. 



Notes 



The originals of the cuts of fowls used in this book were kindly fur- 
nished the author by Frank Foy, Des Moines, who first used them in his 
poultry literature. He has one of the finest and best managed poultry 
farms in this section of Iowa. 

An advertisement for the Mann Bone Cutter appears elsewhere in this 
book. The author has one of these machines in use and does not hesitate 
to unqualifiedly endorse it. It is an excellent machine and indespensible 
to those who would make a success of poultry raising. 



34 



HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 




Buff Cochins 

These are large massive fowls, profusely feathered, and have a very 
fine carriage. They are good layers, and will, under favorable circum- 
stances, compare well with the Leghorn class for winter laying; while for a 
market fowl they far exceed them. Like all Asiatics, they are rather later 
maturing than those of the American class. They are heavily feathered and 
well adapted to cold climates. They breed true to color and are very docile 
fowls; can be easily yarded by a low fence and wire netting. 



Diseases and Their Remedies 



Cure for Dysentery in Chicks 

Citrit of iron and ammonia. Directions for using: One teaspoon level 
full to one quart of water. Keep it before the fowls as long as they are 
affected. 

A Good Tonic for Poultry 

Generally called Douglass Mixture, 

A good and cheap tonic for chickens is composed of one pound of cop- 
peras, two gallons of soft water and one ounce of sulphuric acid, a tea- 
spoonful being added to each quart of drinking water. This should be 
kept in a jug and properly labeled "poison." 



Grit for Poultry 

Grit is absolutely necessary for poultry. It should be kept with 
crushed oyster shell and charcoal in boxes constantly before them. They 
must have something during confinement in bad weather, especially to en- 
able them to assimilate their food. Broken crockery or china make good 
grit if gravel cannot be obtained. Oyster shell is indispensable. 



Dust Bath 

A dust bath should be provided in one corner of a room, well supplied 
with air. This bath should consist of slacked lime, ashes, road dust, a 
little sulphur and a little lice killer sprinkled over it. 

Put one teaspoonful of citric acid and ammonia in each quart of water 
and give to chicks with dysentery. It is a good tonic at any time. 



Over=fat Fowls. 

Do not keep your breeding stock too fat, as the eggs from fat fowls 
give poor hatches. Give fowls plenty of exercise. If birds have free range 



36 HOW TO HATCH, BEOOD, FEED AND PKEVEISTT 

feed but once a day; if no range is available feed fresh, clean food three 
times a day and feed plenty of green stuff, lettuce, cabbage, celery, or any- 
thing that they will eat. Give plenty of fresh water three times a day. 
Cut straw, leaves or hay should be thrown upon the floor to the depth of 
two or three inches and in this the food thrown, to encourage exercise. 



Charred bone as well as charred corn is good for poultry, for the sake 
of the charcoal it contains, which is very beneficial to them in aiding diges- 
tion; but charred bone does not possess the full value of raw bone on ac- 
count of the animal matter contained in the latter, which is consumed in 
the charring process. Fresh bones when ground are the most valuable. 

Boiled oats are good for chickens in winter, especially if you are feed- 
ing for egg production. It is a good feed at any time, much better when 
boiled than fed dry. 



Cure for Scaly Legs 

If your chickens have rough, scaly legs, put some kerosene in a can 
and hold their feet and legs in it for about five minutes. If the first appli- 
cation does not cure them repeat it once or twice more if necessary. This 
disease is caused by a parasite and is readily cured with kerosene. You 
can cure the bumble foot in the same manner. The bumble foot causes 
the feet to swell and the fowl will get very lame and will finally droop and 
die if not cured. It is contagious and should be treated at once. 



Diarrhoea and How to Treat It. 

Diarrhoea in fowls is caused by worms, cholera, indigestion, lice, con- 
gestion or over-feeding. 

Treatment — Seek the cause and remove, if possible. A feed of corn 
meal and bran, made damp with a tea stewed from boiling white o_>k bark 
or blackberry roots will usually allay the trouble. Feed this for several 
days. Camphor is also good. I sometimes mix Venetian red in their feed; 
it is a mineral and is good for indigestion. It should be fed to your hens 
twice or three times a week. Put Douglass mixture in the drinking water 
once a day at least. This is composed of one pound of copperas to two gal- 
lons of water. After this dissolves add one ounce of sulphuric acid. Keep 
in a jug; give a teaspoonful in a quart of water. (This receipt will be 
found on another page in this book.) Put remedy in a jug for the action 
of the acid on tin would soon eat a hole through it. 



CHICKS FKOM DYING IN THE SHELL 37 

Crop Bound 

This disease arises from taking too much or too course food into the 
crop; it is frequently the result of an abnormal appetite from deranged di- 
gestion or lack of variety of food. 

Treatment — A little oil and tepid water should be poured down the 
throat and the mass in the crop kneaded gently to aid in breaking in up. 
A small quantity of soda dissolved in water will prevent fermentation of 
the food in the crop. If the mass does not leave the crop within three 
hours, it may be necessary to cut through and remove the contents. Cut 
as high as possible so that the food taken afterwards, which should be lim- 
ited for a few days, will not escape. Sew the crop and skin separate. The 
fowl will be alright in a few days. I have often treated fowls in this way, 
with good success. Peed plenty of crushed oyster shell and sharp grit at 
all times. This will prevent fowls' crops from becoming bound. Give cop- 
peras in the water daily. 



Apoplexy 

This disease occurs among fowls that are very fat. The heavier breeds 
are most liable to suffer. The attack is sudden, no previous illness being 
shown. Fowls suffering from apoplexy often drop from the perch dead, or, 
are found dead on the nest or expire from some slight exertion. 

Treatment — Cut down the amount of food, especially fat-forming 
food, such as corn, and compel the birds to take exercise. Laxatives also 
are of advantage. A dram of sulphate of soda dissolved in a small amount 
of water and used to moisten the food for twenty to thirty chickens acts 
nicely as a laxative. 

You will find remedies advertised in this book that are good for all 
diseases. 

Globular salts in the water once a week will keep your chickens 
healthy. Look for lice and mites every day. They can soon get away 
with a brood of little chicks: they can soon sap the vitality of your hens 
and make them an expense to you instead of a profit. 



Cholera 

Symptoms — The first indication of disease may be shown by the bird 
appearing slow and indifferent, remaining alone, half asleep, with drooping 
wings. The head is pale or bluish white. The excretions, which in health 
are white, are tinged with yellow. 

Causes — This disease generally arises from filth, lice, poor ventilation, 
over-crowding, improper food, filthy water, etc. 



38 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

Prevention and Cube — Heat destroys the cholera germ. If the food 
or drink be boiled and fed from vessels cleansed with boiling water it will 
remove this source of infection. All healthy birds should be removed from 
the infected pen. Remove all the droppings or other filth. Whitewash 
the house and roosts, cover the floor with lime and ashes; then burn sul- 
phur every few days until the disease disappears. Keep the sick fowls 
away from the pen or house. 

Treatment— Give a teaspoonful of castor oil to each fowl and feed 
just the same as for diarrhoea; give Douglass mixture to, drink; give oil 
once in two days. 

Cure for Roup 

The roup is a very dangerous disease, and a hen with roup may spread 
the contagion by drinking water from the same receptacle as the others for 
the exudation spreads out on the water. Hens sleep with their heads 
under their wing and the pus that comes from their eyes and nose stick 
to the small feathers. These come out and other hens that pick at the 
feathers will get the roup. The only way to prevent this is to separate the 
sick from the well fowls and clean up the coop thoroughly. Close up all 
the cracks as they are a fruitful source of roup. In cold weather close 
your coop so that no cracks are open, and when the weather is warm keep 
the door of the coop wide open. The sick fowls must be kept in a warm 
place until they recover. Bathe their heads with warm water, then grease 
their heads and throat with kerosene and lard, equal parts; give each sick 
fowl a teaspoonful of castor oil; feed them a warm mash of bran, cut grass 
or clover, meal, a little onion and meat scraps. If they are very sick cut 
their heads off and burn them; do not throw their carcass where other hens 
can pick at them. 



CHICKS FEOM DYING IN THE SHELL 



39 




Black Langshans 

Langshans were originally imported from China and are today one of 
the most popular fowls in the Orient. No variety of fowls ever gained pop- 
ularity faster since their importation. The Langshans are large, stylish 
birds, with full, broad breasts, small wings and erect, small combs; their 
bright red wattles, ear lobes and combs, glowing against their glossy black 
feathers, form a striking contrast. 



40 



HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 




Light Brahmas 

The Light Brama, by unchallenged right, stands at the head of ail 
thorough-bred poultry. DuriDg the past thirty years, while other breeds 
have had their "ups and downs," the Light Brahmas have stood their own 
ground, and today they are as much praised and as highly recommended 
to the general breeder as they were thirty years ago. Any breed that can 
stand the test of rivalry so long and still continue to satisfy and please, the 
thousands breeding them, must have qualities of a high order. They are 
the largest of all our poultry, and furnish more pounds of flesh and eggs 
in twelve months than any other breed of fowls on earth. When full 
grown the cocks weigh twelve pounds and the hens ten. They are well 
adapted for all purposes, and are so gentle, handsome and practical one 
cannot help but like them. 



Poultry Hints 



All classes of poultry are fond of fresh ground bone. 

Close application to every detail makes success sure. 

Grit, fresh water and bone meal for health and eggs. 

Hot, strong whitewash on a wall is light, sweet and cheap. 

Allowing the fowls to drink impure water is inviting disease. 

Have all brood coops well made, as they should last for years. 

In the poultry business, common sense is the thing most needed. 

The chick whose life blood is being sucked by vermin cannot thrive. 

A saturated solution of boracic acid is good for swelled heads and eyes. 

Clean, dry quarters are needed for health in summer as well as in 
winter. 

Raw corn meal mixed up with water is not a proper food for young 
chicks. 

Scatter fresh slacked lime liberally over hen house; it will aid to prevent 
disease. 

Keep your poultry house clean. Then you will always have healthy 
chickens. 

Flat perches are best, because they are more comfortable for the feet 
of the fowls. 

Dark-shelled eggs have proved harder to test for fertility than light- 
shelled ones. 

Slacked lime placed in the drinking vessels will often cure the hens of 
laying shell-less eggs. 

Insect depredation are like weeds; they can be kept in check by pre- 
venting their getting a start. 

Ducks are cholera proof, roup proof, gape proof and hawk proof, but 
will sometimes die of spinal meningitis and paralysis. 

Always arrange the nests so that the hens can step in rather than 
jump down; they are apt to break the eggs in jumping down. 



42 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

For the good of the flock remove any fowl that shows any signs of 
being sick even if the ailment is slight; it may save you a lot of grief. 

There is not very much danger of overfeeding, chicks after they are 
four weeks old, but they should be fed in some place to which laying hens 
do not have access. 

Remember to keep the poultry house clean and free from filth of all 
kinds. Filth is the source of most diseases. Lice will account for what 
filth is not responsible for. 

There is a mistake made in buying extremely heavy weights for breed- 
ing. Select birds about the standard weight for the chosen breed and get 
them thick -fleshed and solid. 

Shut up the hen house as tight as possible occasionally and burn sul- 
phur in it; the fumes will reach every crack and crevice and be death to 
disease and vermin hidden there. 

There is no food as corrective in the way of a digestive that equals 
charcoal. It is easily obtained because various forms of the article may be 
made by the poultry raiser himself. 

Poultry in the orchards, in addition to thriving themselves, are of 
great benefit to the orchard in that they destroy insects, bugs and worms, 
and keep the trees in good condition. 

The swill barrel and often the slop pail have proved a watery grave for 
many a fine chick. Covers over them will prevent this. Moreover, covered 
barrels and pails attract less flies than uncovered ones. 

Incubators that have been used all season should receive a good, care- 
ful cleaning and be well aired and sunned before storing away. If your 
incubator is a hot water machine, be sure the pipes are all perfectly dry. 

Do not put a floor in the poultry house if it is possible to have a 
perfectly dry one without it. If dampness is likely to get in, make a 
cement floor and keep it covered with litter of some kind — straw, leaves or 
hay. 

The road to success in poultry keeping which reaches the goal of 
profit is not all smooth and level. When the road is most difficult the 
owners must drive; for personal observation is necessary to avoid rocks 
that wreck. 

The every day welfare of the hen is a matter of method. Every streak 
of ill luck that has assailed your ambitions can be traced to something 
neglected, and that streak of ill luck can be traced to ourselves, but we do 
not like to admit it. 



HOW TO HATCH, BEOOD, EEED AND PEEVENT 43 

Salt is an essential part of the poultry ration. One of the best ways to 
give it is to mix with soft food. In this way it will make the food more 
palatable as well as assist in digestion and keep the hens in good condition. 
A small quantity daily is much better in every way than a large quantity 
occasionally. 

Always keep the hens supplied with green food as late in the season as 
it can possibly be done by turning them out to secure any such that may 
be within their reach. When the supply is failing, put cabbage in the 
poultry yard. After snow covers the ground, feed alfalfa meal, fine chaff 
or sweepings of the hay loft. 

There is one valuable advantage of keeping poultry on the farm that 
is generally overlooked and that is the vast number of insects destroyed 
by them. If you will plant plum trees around your poultry house you will 
always have plums. The hens destroy the larvae of insects that infest 
plum trees. The trees furnish shade that is very necessary for chickens 
in hot weather. You should utilize every foot of ground in a poultry yard 
for fruit trees. 

Dear readers, are you desirous of bettering your condition financially 
and thus enjoy a little more of this world's happiness, seeing your family 
prosperous and contented and adding each day a little more to this world's 
store? Would you like a business in which you can become your own 
master, direct your own affairs and in short be independent? If so, I 
would advise you to go into the poultry business. There is more profit in 
it, considering the money invested and labor required, than in any other 
enterprise you can engage in. It takes a young fortune to equip yourself for 
farming, and another fortune to pay the rent. And what have you left at 
the end of the year after your expenses are all paid? A meager living, 
last hopes, a discouraged soul, and a yearning for something better. 



Give Your Boys and Girls a Chance 




Mrs. D. C. Johnson and Her Little Daughters, Veta and Bessie, 
and their Ducks. 



THIS is the picture of myself and two little girls, Veta and Bessie, and 
their ducks. Last spring my little girls asked me if they could raise 
some ducks and have the money they received for them when sold, 
for their very own. They had some money which they had earned build- 
ing fires at the schoolhouse, and doing odd jobs at home for which they 
would receive a nickel or a dime. This was all put together in a pocket 
book which they called their bank. In February they sent an order to 
Prank Foy, of Des Moines, for a trio of Pekin ducks for which they paid 
$7.00, including the freight. This they thought was pretty high, but they 
wanted to start right and wanted the best they could get. They received 
fine birds. Then we bought an incubator and every morning they would 
gather the eggs early so they would not chill. They placed them in bas- 
kets and turned them once each day. They did this without being told. 
I sit the incubator and lifted the trays; they filled the lamps and watched 
the thermometer, and kept the egg chamber at the proper temperature for 
incubation. They did this just as well as I could have done it. When the 
ducks began to hatch, how delighted the girls were. They would stand in 
front of the incubator and look at them through the glass and talk all 
sorts of baby talk, telling them what they would do for them as soon as 
they were able to leave the machine. They never took one-half the 

L. of C. 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 45 

pleasure with all their dolls as they did with those ducks. They hatched 
some of the ducks with hens. The girls fed, brooded and took all the 
care of them. I paid no attention whatever to them and the result was 
they sold fifty-six dollars' worth and kept thirteen ducks for breeding pur- 
poses. Oh! The air castles they are building for another year. 

Mothers, try your little girls and boys in this work; it will surprise you 
what an interest they will take and how many steps they will save you 
during the summer, besides the practical knowledge they will gain that 
will help them in after life. We have their music lessons and musical in- 
struments to pay for anyway. Why not give them a chance to earn the 
money to pay for a part of these at least. They will practice more econ- 
omy in spending the money they earn themselves than if it came direct 
from us. They will also take more interest in their music and try harder to 
learn when they pay for the lessons with their own money. This is not 
all.- It will be an advantage to them to learn things along this line while 
we are here to teach them. Labor rarely becomes irksome to children 
when they are personally interested in it, knowing they will receive the 
profits derived therefrom. 



Letters to Mrs. Rebecca Johnson 



The following letter received by Mrs. Rebecca Johnson from Mrs. L. C. 
Rierson, of Nevada, is an indication of the appreciation people have 
of her knowledge on the subject of manipulating incubators and 
raising chickens. She says: 

Nevada, Feb. 3, 1905 — Dear Mrs. Johnson: I feel as if I must write 
and thank you for the letter you wrote me on how to run an incubator. I 
used to read all the books and papers about poultry and incubators that I 
could get, but your one instructive letter had more valuable information in 
it than all papers and poultry books I ever read. It told me every thing 
in plain words, just what I needed to know, I think that the failure in 
incubators are due to improper instructions sent out with the machines. 
The first time I started my incubator I ran it according to the directions I 
received with my incubator, and failed. I only got forty-four chicks from 
230 eggs; I became very much discouraged for I wanted early chicks, but 
when I read in the papers iibout your success I thought I would write and 
ask you how you managed your incubator, and received your letter just in 
time to save my second hatch; this time I got 146 healthy chicks and the 
third time I got 161. I hatched quite a few under hens for I wanted the 
hens to raise the incubator chicks. In all I raised about 500 chicks. It 
was late in the season when I got your letter; next spring I will start my 
incubator early and try to raise twice as many. I have a brooder, but I 
do not know how to use it: I wish you would be so kind as to give me 
instructions how to operate it also, it would be so much easier than to 
bother with hens. I have a nice flock of Langshans, I like them the best 
of any kind we ever had. Please answer soon. 

From your friend, 

Mrs. L. C. Rierson. 



Colo, Iowa, May 23, 1904.— My Dear Mrs. Johnson: I received 
your kind letter and will say I was so glad to hear from you for your letter 
did me so much good. I have been waiting to see what kind of a hatch I 
would have. Well, I was happily surprised. I hatched 380 chicks from 
400 eggs. This is the best I have ever done. From the hatch just before 
this I got only 132 chicks from 400 eggs. This was before I received your 
letter. I operated the ventilator just as you told me. If everyone knew 
just how to operate their incubator and have as good success as I did, they 



CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 47 

would be spared lots of grief and many disappointments. I wish you would 
write me again and tell me anything you think I ought to know. I am 
always ready and willing to learn. When I read of your success, I wondered 
how you managed your incubator for such good results, but when I read 
your instructions, how easy it was for me to operate my incubator. Iwish 
I could sell my incubator; it is almost too large for me since I can hatch so 
many chicks at once. It is a good machine and if a person will follow your 
instrnctions they can hatch more chicks than they can take care of. As I 
know how to operate an incubator now, a smaller one will do me just as 
well or better, than a large one. My family is small, only my husband and 
myself, but I want to raise at least 500 hens for next year. I think it is the 
duty of every woman to do all she can to help make a livelihood, don't you? 
And they can help more by raising poultry than any other way. It is a 
work I dearly love. I would like to meet you and have a talk with you. 
Thanking you again for your kindness, I remain 

Yours very respectfully, 

Mrs. Ed. Day. 



Poultry Culture, Incubators, Brooders 

Their Advantages on the Farm and 
the Profit Derived Therefrom <£ Jt 

Paper Read by Mrs. Rebecca Johnson, at the Farmers' 1 Institute, Maxwell, 
Wednesday , January 23, IQ05 

I DO not know that I can explain poultry culture, incubators, brooders 
and their advantages on the farm and the profits derived therefrom as 
well as those who have more literary ability, although I have made 
these a study for over twenty years. However, I will try to explain it to 
you to the best of my ability. 

The people that are making money in this progressive age are those 
who have the foresight to use the most improved facilities; those who fail 
are those who neglect their opportunities. Success in any branch of agri- 
culture seems to depend upon the effort that one makes to utilize the most 
modern machinery and methods. 

The hen is a very good hatching machine, but very slow. Very few 
people who depend upon the hen for hatching are able to make a commer- 
cial success of poultry; it is like making butter from a large herd of 
well fed cows, with the old-fashioned up and down churn, or dropping corn 
by hand and covering it with a hoe, and then cultivating it with one horse 
and a single shovel plow as our fathers used to do. 'Tis true they made 
good butter, and raised good corn in those days, but could a man make a 
livelihood for a large family raising corn in that way today? No, we must 
have labor saving machinery, hence the incubator and brooder. They are 
the poultryman's labor saving machines; they enable him to do business on 
a large enough scale to make money, besides a living, and this is not all; 
eggs command a good price and are ready sale for cash, all the year around, 
consequently, we cannot afford to let old Biddy waste her time and energy 
sitting and raising a brood when we can do it just as well for her, while she 
is laying the golden egg that fills our incubators, pays our store bills, and 
furnishes a nice boiled or fried egg for breakfast. No experienced poultry- 
man at the present time will undertake to rear fowls in large numbers for 
the production of eggs and depend on the hen that lays the eggs for incu- 
bation, because those Mediterranean breeds, or non-sitters as they are 
usually called, such as the Leghorn and Minorca, cannot be depended upon 
for natural incubation, consequently, artificial incubation must be resorted 
to if we would make poultry culture for egg producing a success. Leg- 



CHICKS FEOM DYING IN THE SHELL 49 

horns and Minorcas never become broody the first year, and seldom the 
second. They do not make good incubators because they are too nervous. 
If you go near the nests where they are sitting they will fly off like "a shot 
out of a gun," and often break their eggs. I set every hen that became 
broody last summer on duck eggs, and then did not have enough, so I 
thought I would force some to sit, but they sat standing every time, hence, 
you see, if I had not resorted to artificial incubation to hatch my chicks, I 
would have (excuse slang, please) "come out of the little end of the horn," 
and missed all those nice fried chickens, $250.00, and five hundred pullets 
that are paying for our living today. 'Tis true some do not have success 
with incubators, but there are so many different makes of machines on the 
market today, and they are all the best, so the companies that make them 
claim, so you see it would be very hard for a person having little or no 
practical knowledge of the natural laws of incubation and what mechanism 
is required to constitute a good machine, to distinguish the difference be- 
tween a good and a poor machine. 

For best results an incubator must have a good heating devise; one 
that will distribute a uniform heat throughout the egg chamber. There 
should be ventilators in the bottom, ends and top, and the operator should 
have good instructions telling how and when to use these ventilators. The 
cause of chicks dying in the shell is the lack of oxygen in the egg chamber 
at pipping time. 

It is just as essential to have a good brooder as it is to have good incu- 
bators; if you try to get along without one I would advise you to try to get 
along without the other, and you should have at least two brooders to one 
incubator. There is where I have made a mistake, to my sorrow; crowd- 
ing too many chicks in one brooder. It will cost a little more at the start, 
but it will pay big dividends in the end. 

Keep the temperature at 90 the first week, and as the chicks grow 
older and stronger, gradually lower the temperature and in a little while 
they can do without artificial heat altogether. We made a large brooder 
ourselves, that is comparatively inexpensive, to put our chicks in after 
they are three or four weeks old. They are too young to wean from a 
brooder at that aee, and it keeps them safe from varmints that usually 
infest the poultry yards. The little chicks become very much attached to 
their brooder and rely upon it for shelter and protection just as much as 
they would a hen. Do not feed brooder chicks anything but grit for 
thirty-six hours after hatching, and I would advise you to take a dose or 
two yourself, for you may need a little grit to help you through trying 
difficulties that are sure to arise at the end of eight days if you over-feed 
your chicks. In raising brooder chicks always keep in mind that "Cleanli- 
ness is next to Godliness," for you cannot raise chicks where lice, mites 
and filth exist. 



50 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

Poultry raising appeals strongest to most people because of its adapta- 
bility as a combination with farming. In fact, poultry keeping practically 
demands the carrying on of some other lines of work in order to make the 
most profit possible from one's labor. The poultry business requires no 
great amount of capital, and considerable poultry can be kept largely upon 
what would otherwise be a waste; there is much waste about a farm that 
cannot be utilized in any other way as effectively as by poultry, which 
pick up the last grain, whether in the manger or in the refuse and convert 
it into profit. Waste in the feed yard is also converted into profit; there is 
nothing that will glean after hogs but poultry. Then when the grain is 
threshed the straw pile will furnish a great deal of picking for them, even 
with the best kind of threshing. In the fall there are small potatoes, cab- 
bages, turnips, squashes, onions, carrots and beets that are not marketable; 
poultry like them and will eat them with a relish. In fact, there is nothing 
to take the place of poultry for converting the waste materials on a farm 
into marketable products. There is no longer any question but that poul- 
try is profitable, even when kept alone, but much more so when the busi- 
ness can be combined with other branches of farm work so that each de- 
partment fits into the other, and the waste of one is utilized by the others. 
Poultry keeping can be engaged in as a side line with almost any business 
which will allow one time enough to give it careful attention each morn- 
ing and evening. Many business men are doing well with small flocks 
under conditions that could hardly be termed favorable, but the hen will 
give a good account of herself under almost any kind of a combination if she 
is given reasonable care. On so many farms you will find the poultry badly 
neglected; the women are generally expected to look after them, and if 
they are not very strong and are doing their housework without any help, 
you will find the hen house full of lice, mites and filth, not a fit habitation 
for any living creature. Husbands, here is where you can lend a helping 
hand and utilize your time on rainy days, clean out, whitewash renovate 
and fumigate the hen house, and your wife will be perfectly willing to do 
the rest. It is not necessary to build a castle for chickens, but it is neces- 
sary that the house should be warm, roomy and properly lighted, and keep 
in.mind that old adage; it applies to hen houses as well as brooders and 
colony houses. 

I have heard a great many persons express the desire to get onto a 
small farm where they can make a comfortable living without having to 
work too hard, and at the same time live an independent life. Poultry 
offers one of the very best leaders for such a place and it pays as much 
money for the labor and money invested as any kind of business one can 
engage in. On a place of this kind one is able to be at home with one's 
family, and places of this sort offer the best possible conditions for the 
rearing of children. Such a home will always be looked upon with memo- 



CHICKS FROM DYINGr IN THE SHELL 51 

ries that grow dearer as the years come and go. The diversity of life on a 
small farm of this kind has a tendency to keep up the interest and make 
the work more attractive and less irksome to the children than where one 
line is followed exclusively. 

During the year 1899 the hens in the United States deposited 1,293,818,- 
144 dozen eggs. Now a case of eggs contain thirty dozen, hence it would 
require 43,127, 272 cases to hold the annual output. Comparatively few 
people know or realize that the hen produces more wealth every year than 
all the gold and silver mines in the world. The value of the poultry and 
egg product in the United States in 1899 was greater than that of either 
gold or silver produced in the entire world during any previous year since 
the record began in 1493. The poultry and egg products of 1899 exceeded 
in value the pig iron by more than $21,000,000 and the eggs alone were 
valued at $144,286,370. 

In 1899 all the wool product in the United States amounted to but 
$45,723,793 while the value of the poultry and eggs amounted to the vast 
sum of $281,178,247. You see the value of wool is less than 16 per cent 
that of the hen product. Isn't it about time for the farmers to begin to 
study the relative market value of the hen to their other products? The 
eggs and poultry sold by the people of the United States in 1899 was 
greater than the value of all animals slaughtered, and was far more than 
the entire oat crop. Would you believe that the hen produced more cash 
than the entire wheat crop of twenty-eight states and territories, including 
Illinois, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and Wisconsin? 
It's a fact. She produced a greater value than the corn crop of eighteen 
states and territories, including California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New 
York, North Dakota, Washington, Oregon and Wyoming. The value of 
all the poultry in the United States reserved for breeding and laying in 
1900 was fixed by competent authority at $70,000,000; the number of fowls 
at 250,681,598, yet from this number of fowls valued at $70,000,000 was 
produced for the market eggs valued at $144,289,370, and poultry worth 
$136,891,877; a grand total of $281,178,247, or over 400 per cent on the invest- 
ment. Can you beat such a record by engaging in any other legitimate 
business known to commerce? Please keep in mind that the above figures 
apply only to poultry and eggs produced on farms. The vast amount 
produced in villages of the country added to the above makes the totals 
more staggering, besides the many millions slaughtered for table use 
through the country, which is not considered in the above report, would 
bring the real value of the poultry product up to an overwhelming amount. 
Now isn't it about time for the farmer to give more serious consideration 
to the patriotic old hen, when it is the most profitable, healthful and enjoy- 
able occupatiou under the sun, but my friends, let me say a few words to 
those of you who contemplate poultry culture for a livelihood: You must 



52 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 

have love for the work, and an ambition to do that work, and by persistent 
effort and investigation you will acquire knowledge, and after getting prac- 
tical experience, then persevere and you will overcome difficulties, and suc- 
cess will be the result. If you will only start right and stick to it I promise 
you good returns, not only in cash, but in health, strength and all that goes 
to make life worth living. 

I could go on at length pointing out its fascinations, pleasures and 
advantages, but time forbids, but will say to the new beginner I am with 
you in spirit, sympathizing with you in your time of trouble and rejoicing 
with you in your success. I am ever your friend and well wisher. 



INDEX 



Page 

A Talk on Incubators 32 

Breeders and Success 28 

Brooding Ducks 17 

Culture of Geese 21 

Diseases and Remedies 35-38 

Feeding Hens for Egg Production in Winter 25 

Give Your Boys and Girls a Chance 44-45 

How and What to Feed Ducks 18 

How and What to Feed Brooder Chicks 12 

How to Start Your Incubators 5 

How to Prepare the Brooder for the Chicks 17 

How to Hatch Ducks by Incubation 17 

How to Pip the Egg 11 

How to Build a Cheap Poultry House 33 

How to Prepare Young Cockerels for Market 28 

Introductory — How I Came to Write this Book 3 

Leghorns Not Good Setters 28 

Letters to Mrs. Johnson 46-47 

Mating, Breeding and Rearing Turkeys 19 

Moisture and When to Introduce it 11 

Notes 33 

Poultry Hints 41-43 

Poultry Culture, Incubators, Brooders — An Address 48-52 

Producing Early Molting in Hens 26 

Recipe for Keeping Eggs 31 

Saving Eggs for Incubation 5 

Speltz for Poultry 31 

The Market and Its Demands 27 

The Proper Temperature for Successful Incubation 7 

The Poultry Industry 31 

Testing Eggs to Set 6 

Turning and Cooling the Eggs 8 

Ventilation and How to Prevent Chicks Dying in the Shell 9 

When to Remove the Chicks to the Brooder 14 

What Makes the Chick 27 

Which is the Best General Purpose Fowl? 25 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page Page 

Barred Plymouth Rocks 23 Mammoth Imperial Pekin Ducks.. . . 18 

Bronze Turkeys 20 Mrs. Johnson and Little Daughters, 

Buff Cochins 34 Veta and Bessie, and their ducks.. 44 

Black Langshans 39 Rose Comb Brown Leghorns 30 

How to Pip the Egg 12 Silver Laced Wyandottes 24 

Incubator 32 Single Comb Brown Leghorns 29 

Light Brahmas 40 Toulouse Geese 22 



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Mfrs. of Clover Cutters, Peed Trays, 
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This Bone Cutter may be seen in operation at the Author's Home 



Hawkeye Incubators and Brooders 




The above illustration shows the 
24o=egg Hawkeye Incubator set 
up ready to operate. 



Are built for busy people who raise poultry for the money there is in it. They are constructed 
right inside, outside and clear through on principles that have stood the test of every-day usage 
in the hands of practical poultrymen. The incubator case has two walls with special nonconductor 
packing- between, double bottom, double top underlined with heat deflecting composition, and a 
large roomy chick nursery is provided under the egg tray. The heating system is hot water con- 
ducted through pipes and heating boiler constructed of twelve ounce cold rolled copper. Our 
plan saves one-half the oil. and the specially designed pipes directly over the egg chamber are so 
located that an even temperature is assured over every egg. The regulator is the most perfect 
ever devised and controls the heat automatically ; one simple adjustment causes the entire appa- 
ratus to work with clock-like accuracy. No worry, no sitting up at nights; a few minutes per 
day will easily care for the eggs and lamp during the hatch. 

Hawkeye Brooders are. likewise, the result of years of experience in artificial brooding. 
Crowding and smothering of chicks is utterly impossible with the Hawkeye improved hot air Sys- 
tem of heating. Ventilation supplied from center of hover through double floor connection with 
outside atmosphere. All heat from the lamp is utilized by a special plan entirely different from 
any other That's whv the Hawkeye Brooder can be heated in zero weather with one-half the fuel 
required by others. These machines are arranged in every detail of the construction for the com 
fort and convenience of chicks 




Above illustration shows the 100-Chick Hawkeye Brooder with open feed=yard and run=way 

Hawkeye Incubator Company, Newton, Iowa 

or Mrs, D, C. Johnson, Agent, Maxwell, Iowa 



fiawkeye Portable Colony Bouse 




The Hawkeye Portable Colony House, shown in the accompany- 
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Send for complete catalogue and guide to poultry raisers; gives prices 
and detailed information. Address 



Hawkeye Incubator Co. Newton, Iowa 



Established 1870 



!♦ 



rown & Son 



Produce Commission 



Specialties 

Poultry 

Eggs 

Veal and 

Butter 



225 South Water Street 
CHICAGO 

CLOSEST ATTENTION GIVEN TO ALL CONSIGNMENTS 
PROMPTNESS AND GOOD SERVICE GUARANTEED 

Write Us For Quotations 



We Want <& 



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260 SOUTH WATER STREET 

Chicago, 111. 







TUKSBrJK rMJfe 















?»jf, 





